Sniper
Ramadi, Iraq
"Hey... Hey Gunny. Wakeup, it's almost your turn for watch." The spotter said.
"Wha?...Aw shit, has it been two hours already?" the sniper grumbled as he roused from his sleep.
"Yeah it has. I was gonna let you get a little more beauty sleep, cause God knows you need it..." the komodo dragon's voice trailed off as the cougar beside him held up his middle finger. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Knyte settled in behind his M40A3 rifle. "Anything to report?" he asked as his eyes swept the area outside of their hide.
Peering out of a hole in the wall of an old pump house at the city's edge, the two recon Marines had a commanding view of the surrounding area. Not that there was much to see. A flat, barren wadi (dry riverbed) stretched for several hundred meters in front of the pump house, ending at what the Marines dubbed as Highway 1. Highway one was the only major road into this part of the city and saw a lot of civilian traffic. The road was often traveled by US forces but recently, a string of IED attacks had caused several US casualties. Now the force recon snipers hunted the area looking for those responsible, before they could strike again. Beyond highway one was small field, currently occupied by a group of children kicking around a soccer ball. To the right of the field was a large palm grove and the outlying buildings of Ramadi itself. All that lay behind the pump house was another small wadi and palm grove, followed by miles of empty desert.
"Shit no. Nothing's happened all day, or the night before for that matter" Staff Sergeant Oscar Reyes, grumbled.
Daniel smiled at the comment from his spotter and friend. "A bitchin' Marine is a happy Marine", he thought wryly. They'd been doing IED interdiction missions for the past three weeks in different locations around the city. They had had plenty of action and kills, especially in the first week. Lately however, things had been quiet. Too quiet.
Maybe we're doing some good. Or maybe the enemy is getting smarter. The idea sent a small shiver up his spine.
"I swear those kids have been planyin' soccer all morning. Don't they have anything better to do?" Oscar continued.
Daniel looked at his spotter and grimaced at his bloodshot eyes. "Hey," he said sticking out his paw. "Gimme the scope and get some sleep."
"Roger that." The dragon responded as he started to hand the spotting scope over. Instantly he stopped and brought the scope back to his eye.
"Hold on. Contact, possible enemy victor moving parallel west of our position." The komodo said, staring through his Zeiss 20x spotting scope.
"Where?" Daniel asked.
"200 meters left of the palm grove. Single white car moving slowly along the side of the road." The komodo dragon responded.
Looking through the scope of his rifle Daniel scanned the terrain before his crosshairs settled on the suspicious vehicle. Sure enough a small, white, four door sedan crawled slowly along the side of highway one. The interior was packed with 5 young Iraqi men.
"Roger, I got 'em. Let's see what they're up to" Daniel said.
As he spoke the car pulled over to the side of the road and disgorged its passengers. Four of the men proceeded to the front of the vehicle and popped the hood. They then stood around, nervously pretending the car was having mechanical problems. Meanwhile the driver went around to the back of the car and began to rummage around in the trunk. As soon as he was done he signaled the other men to join him. Daniel smiled as the driver handed out four shovels and the men began to dig by the side of the road. His tail twitching slowly in anticipation he muttered quietly to his spotter, "Target?"
The dragon was already ahead of him. With the laser range finder pressed to his eye he responded, "First target is the driver. Dude in the gray suit with the sunglasses on. Range: 756 meters. Wind is moving two minutes left to right."
Daniel continued to smile as he made the necessary adjustments to his scope. Finished he responded "On target."
By now the driver was watching his comrades lower some old artillery shells into the waiting hole. Daniel calmly placed his crosshairs on the center of the man's chest. Directly over an obnoxiously bright yellow tie. Daniel could see every detail of his target. The man's gray western style suit and brown oxford shoes. His large rotund belly wobbling as he encouraged his fellow terrorists. The sweat rolling down his fat face, past the Elvis style sunglasses to be soaked up by his collar and distasteful tie.
Perfect
"Send it." Oscar said flatly.
Daniel's rifle boomed sending the 173 grain boat-tail round towards its target at 2550 feet per second. The would-be jihadi never knew what hit him as the bullet tore through his chest and exited out the middle of his back. Slumping backwards, he left a bright red streak down the side of the white sedan.
Staff Sergeant Reyes' mind absorbed every grim detail of the kill through his powerful spotting scope. He felt detached, almost as he was watching the whole scene in a movie. His own voice didn't even register in his mind as he reported, "Good hit."
Daniel wasn't paying attention as his arm instinctively worked the rifle's bolt and ejected the spent shell casing. He was already settling his crosshairs onto another target as his spotter called his hit. This man was bent halfway over the freshly dug hole with an artillery shell cradled in his arms. A quizzical expression was plastered on his face as he stared at his fallen comrade. That expression quickly changed to shock as Daniel's next bullet pierced his side and scrambled his lungs, leaving him thrashing in the sand and dust.
The three remaining insurgents quickly scrambled behind their car before Daniel could get off another shot. He quickly shifted his aim to the driver's seat, ready to dispatch the enemy as they tried to flee. To his surprise, the three men instead reappeared with AK-47s and began to fire wildly at the pump house from behind the sedan.
"Why aren't they runnin'?" Reyes asked beside him.
"I don't know, stupid hajjis maybe." Daniel responded. Placing emphasis on his statement he fired again at an insurgent who was firing over the sedan's hood. The bullet hit the man in the throat and Daniel could see his legs thrashing in the dust underneath the car. This horrific death seemed to discourage the last two men who stopped firing and remained crouched out of the sniper's deadly line of sight.
Another day at the office. Daniel thought smugly as he reloaded his rifle and thought about their next move. Yet, something seemed wrong. Some dark revelation seemed to tickle the back of his brain, calling for his attention. Then it struck him like a thunderbolt. He could still hear the sounds of gunfire and bullets impacting around their hide.
"What the fuck?" Daniel muttered, asking no one in particular. He leaned forward, past his spotter's similarly quizzical face, to peer further out the hole in the wall. The sight that greeted him almost stopped his heart. A whole host of enemy fighters were advancing out of the city under a shield of fire from concealed machine guns.
OH FUCK! AMBUSH!
Before Daniel could scramble away from the hole he saw a plume of smoke emit from a rooftop and something streaked towards their position. "RPG!" Daniel screamed.
The rocket propelled grenade slammed into the pump house wall above the prone snipers and exploded, sending most of its deadly shaped charge harmlessly into the opposite wall. Even so, Daniel felt pain shoot up his lower back as shrapnel struck him. Worse still, the blast had affected his sensitive feline hearing, leaving the world fuzzy with a ringing quality. Daniel knew he couldn't focus on his injuries at the moment. Hesitation would mean death. Glancing back at Reyes he yelled, "You alright?"
Reyes nodded his head though he was still trying to shake off the concussion of the blast.
" Alright..." Daniel commanded his training taking over, "Grab your SAW and pop smoke to the right. We'll make a break for the palm grove."
"Roger that" Oscar responded as he hefted his SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) and stumbled out the back of the pump house. Slinging his M40A3 over his shoulder, Daniel grabbed his M4 and Kevlar helmet before following him out into the blazing Iraqi heat. And the blazing Iraqi gunfire.
Under the cover of a cloud of smoke the two Marines sprinted from the pump house, across the wadi, and into the palm grove. Enemy fire buzzed and snapped around them like angry hornets yet, the Marines made the distance safely. As he slide behind the base of a palm tree, Daniel desperately called into his radio for a QRF (Quick Reaction Force). The QRF consisted of a heavily armed platoon of Marines in armored Humvees who were always geared up and ready in case things got hairy for friendly forces. Now was one of those times.
"Porky! Porky! This is Hunter one, we are hot with multiple hostiles. Need QRF now, over!"
For a split second, heart breaking silence greeted Daniel's desperate call before the radio crackled a response.
"Roger that Hunter one. QRF is on the way. ETA: three minutes."
We might not have three minutes, Daniel thought numbly as he dropped the radio's handset and began to fire on the approaching enemy with his M4. Beside him Oscar's SAW chattered, spewing death at all who entered his sights. It wasn't enough. Daniel burned his way through three magazines and the enemy continued to get closer and closer.
"Shit. We are screwed." Daniel thought grimly as a voice from his sniper training days echoed through his mind: "If you're gonna get overrun, do your fellow Marines a favor and don't let the enemy have your rifle."
Obeying his training, Daniel stopped firing long enough to remove his M40s bolt and toss it deep into the palm grove. Sadness welling within him he gripped his rifle by the barrel and swung it against a nearby tree, causing the scope and fiberglass stock to shatter. His deed done, Daniel picked up his M4 and continued to fire.
With the destruction of his rifle a sense of calm and hyper clarity overwhelmed Daniel. He felt no fear as he smoothly placed his sights on an advancing foe. The red dot hovering over the man's black robe before Daniel sent him to his doom with a well placed double tap. At his side, Oscar Reyes continued to methodically work his SAW, oblivious to the danger around him. For a moment the enemy charge faltered and hope swelled in Daniel's chest. It was quickly dashed as a new sound reached his ears. A faint fffftt reached him, but before he could comprehend it he was knocked over by the over pressure of the explosions around him.
MORTARS! His addled brain screamed at him as he instinctively curled into a ball. Vainly hoping to survive the barrage. His eyes snapped open as the explosions stopped. He tried to call out to his partner but his voice sounded far away, as if he were listening to it under water.
"Reyes? You ok?" he cried out desperately as he scrambled over to his spotter's position. The sight that greeted him hurt worse than any wound the enemy could inflict. The Komodo dragon lay on his back in the dust, his tail thrashing spasmodically as deep red blood oozed from the smoking holes in his body armor. Daniel tore off the ruined Kevlar and as his hearing returned he noticed the choking gurgle that issued from Oscar's chest. Daniel cried out in anguish as he gripped his friends hand and, resigned to his fate, turned to face his enemy. He watched surreally as a group of enemies approached the palm grove to finish them off.
His eyes widened in surprise as the men disappeared into a cloud of gore. From the North, like a vengeful wraith the QRF appeared, the lead humvee's Mk40 grenade launcher pumping death into the enemy.
................
After dispatching the enemy the responding Marines of the QRF began to search the area for the missing snipers. Those Marines would never forget the sight of a lone cougar stumbling out of the palm grove. His entire body was coated white from the dust and red from the blood of his comrade, whom he carried across his shoulders. One Marine reached out to help the sniper with his load but jumped back as the cougar loosed a feral snarl. A snarl filled with anger, hatred, and a deep pain no one would ever understand.
No... he thought, I will carry his weight now. Now and forever.